PhD training consists, in part, of a research apprenticeship under the guidance of one or more graduate faculty in the department. Students are encouraged to identify a potential Mentor prior to applying, but this is not required. You can learn more about our Academic Faculty and learn more about our Research.
Upon admission, the student will be assigned a Mentor. The Mentor and at least two other faculty members will complete the Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will be responsible for advising and evaluating the student during the pre-dissertation phase of their program.
With permission of the Advisory Committee and the Chair of the department, the student has the option of changing advisors at any time during the program. By the end of the first semester, a statement of program and schedule of relevant coursework must be approved by the Advisory Committee and placed on file in the department. At any time thereafter, the Mentor, in consultation with the student can change the Advisory Committee.
The PhD program is designed to provide an individualized experience of study and will be finalized with the student's mentor and advisory committee. While there is substantial customization, the following are required components:
A minimum of 72 credit hours of academic coursework is required.
*Graduate course credits may be transferred to this department only on approval of the Advisory Committee and the Graduate School. No more than 36 credit hours at the post-baccalaureate level may be applied toward the PhD degree program. (See policy regarding age limit on coursework for CDS).
* Students who enter the program without a background in speech-language pathology and audiology may be required to complete a core of courses within this discipline. The courses to be taken will be determined by the student’s Doctoral Committee.
Maintenance of a B grade average (3.0) is required each semester. Grades lower than a B- will not count towards completion of the PhD If a student fails to obtain a B average for any semester, he or she will be placed on academic probation with no guarantee of university funding for the subsequent semester. If the student fails to achieve a B average during the probationary semester, the student will be dismissed from the program. Decisions regarding student funding during the probationary period will be made by the PhD Committee in consultation with the department chair.
All doctoral students are expected to be engaged in the department's activities and to be involved in research, so are expected to attend full time. A minimum of two academic years of full-time residency is required. Please note that university regulations stipulate that all graduate work credited to the doctoral degree must be completed within seven years of the first registration date in the doctoral program. Students must maintain continuous registration until the degree is conferred. (Summers are not counted, one credit each semester is sufficient).
In addition to coursework, students are expected to be engaged in active research.
During Years 1 and 2, students will complete a Project 1 and a Project 2 (pre-dissertation projects).
The Doctoral Dissertation Committee must be composed of a minimum of 3 committee members who are members of the Graduate School Faculty Roster. The committee must include the dissertation advisor, who serves as chair of the Dissertation Committee, and two additional committee members who must have an earned doctoral degree. In all instances, the majority of committee members must have graduate faculty appointment in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences.
Successful completion of the dissertation includes:
*The committee will vote pass or fail on the dissertation topic, and pass, pass with revisions or fail on the document. The vote on the dissertation topic need not be unanimous, but rather can be approved with one negative vote. This negative vote cannot, however, be from the advisor. A failure of the dissertation topic must be accompanied by a recommendation of by the committee. This could include a completely new dissertation, a revision of data analyses, or dismissal from the program. A fail vote on the dissertation document is only given when a committee member votes to fail on the dissertation topic. A pass on the dissertation topic but a pass with revision on the dissertation document indicates that the writing of the document is not acceptable. Each committee member who votes pass with revisions on the dissertation document must provide editorial comments to the student. They can either ask to see the revised manuscript or leave it up to the advisor to determine the acceptability of the revised document. Upon dissertation approval, committee members must sign the dissertation, indicating their approval.